Chen CM, et al. – Researchers assessed if as compared to National Cholesterol Education Program step II diet (NCEP II) as control (CON), ~60 g/d almonds (ALM) added to CON would improve glucoregulation and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in Chinese type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients. Findings indicated that in diabetic patients with a better glycemic control, addition of almonds to healthful diets can improve glycemic status.

Methods

• In this study, 40 T2DM patients were enrolled and randomly assigned to receive CON or ALM for 12 wks after a 2-wk. run-in period.
• Researchers collected blood and urine samples in the beginning and at the end of each dietary intervention phase for the assessment of biomarkers of glucoregulation, lipid profile, inflammation, and oxidative stress.

Results

• Findings demonstrated that while ALM had a better overall nutritional quality than CON, neither ALM nor CON improved the glycemic status as the primary study outcome and other CVD risk factors, except the circulating nitric oxide being decreased by ALM compared to CON.
• Researchers observed that among 27 of 33 patients with the baseline HbA1c ≤8, ALM decreased post-interventional fasting serum glucose and HbA1c by 5.9% and 3.0% as compared to that of CON, respectively (P = 0.01 and 0.04).
• In addition, data highlighted that mean total and LDL-cholesterol concentrations were not changed by both diets.